HOW MMA IS SCORED
READING TIME · 2 MIN
The 10-Point Must System the official judges use — and that you use here. Learn what separates a 10-9 from a 10-8, what the judges actually weigh, and how draws and finishes are handled.
THE SYSTEM
THE 10-POINT MUST SYSTEM
Every round is scored on its own. The fighter who wins it must get 10 points; the other gets 9 or fewer. Nothing carries over: a wide round one counts exactly the same as a razor-thin round three.
At the end of the fight each judge adds up their rounds, and the higher total wins that card. With three judges, two cards in your favour win the decision.
On this card, red won rounds 1 and 2, the second by a wide margin, and lost round 3: 29-27 red.
SCORECARD
29
TOTAL
27
THE SCORES
10-9, 10-8, 10-7, 10-10
The winner of a round always gets 10. What the loser gets says how wide the round was. Most rounds are 10-9.
For a 10-8, the rules tell judges to weigh impact (damage done), dominance (who dictated the round) and duration (how long it lasted). A round doesn't need a knockdown to be 10-8: sustained, one-sided punishment is enough, and since 2017 judges are asked to give them more readily.
A point taken for a foul comes off that fighter's score for the round, so a 10-9 round can end up 9-9.
A ROUND WON
Most rounds. One fighter did more, but it was competitive.
A DOMINANT ROUND
Won by a wide margin: heavy damage, near-total control, or close to a finish.
OVERWHELMING
Beyond 10-8: one fighter taking a beating with nothing coming back. Rare.
AN EVEN ROUND
Nothing to separate them. Judges are told to avoid it.
WHAT COUNTS
JUDGING CRITERIA, IN ORDER
Judges look at a round in this order, and only move to the next question when the one before it is dead even. Almost every round is settled by the first.
Aggression only counts when it's effective, and control only counts when it's used to do damage or advance. Pressure and cage control are tiebreakers, not the headline.
- 1
EFFECTIVE STRIKING & GRAPPLING
Strikes that land with impact, and grappling that does something: takedowns, reversals, submission attempts, better position.
- 2
EFFECTIVE AGGRESSIVENESS
Only if the first is even: who was making the attempt to finish the fight.
- 3
FIGHTING AREA CONTROL
Only if both are even: who dictated where and how the fight happened.
EDGE CASES
DRAWS & FINISHES
If the cards don't produce a winner, the fight is a draw: unanimous (all three judges level), majority (two level, one with a winner) or split (one judge each way, one level). A point deduction for a foul can be what tips a fight into a draw.
A knockout, TKO or submission ends the fight on the spot, and the cards don't decide it. Here, the round it was stopped in and any after it aren't counted: only completed rounds count toward a card.
More: Decisions & scorecardsSOURCES
WHERE THESE RULES COME FROM
Everything on this page follows the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts, maintained by the Association of Boxing Commissions and Combative Sports (ABC) and adopted by the athletic commissions that sanction UFC events, including the 2017 updates to the judging criteria and 10-8 guidance.
The judging criteria and their order come from the ABC's MMA judging supplement, the same training material used to certify professional judges.